The vacancies caused by their resignations would enable him to induct SP, BSP and independent legislators in the cabinet. At present they are lending support from outside. At present the strength of the cabinet is 28. As per the rule he can expand his ministry to 34. Thus with present strength he can induct six more legislators in his Ministry. But he wants to keep six vacancies so that these can be used to solve any contingency in near future.

Perhaps in the absence of Congress president Rahul Gandhi he has sought the help of Sonia Gandhi. How the two other state leaders have reacted to Kamal Nath’s suggestion is not clear. Observers say that Kamal Nath has evolved this formula so that any resentment caused by resignations will be jointly managed by three leaders.

Meanwhile the Chief Minister has assigned the task of carrying the achievements of six month rule to his ministers. Ministers will visit various places of the state to interact with the people including grass root Congress workers.

For Kamal Nath last week was marked by hectic activity. On the eve of the NITI Ayog meeting Kamal Nath reached New Delhi and convened a meeting of all the Congress chief ministers. He also held a dinner meeting in which besides Chief Ministers, important central and state level party leaders were also invited. One of the agenda was to evolve a consensus over the stand the Congress chief ministers would take at the NITI Ayog meeting. Interestingly chief minister also sought the guidelines of former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. Perhaps on the guidelines suggested by Dr. Manmohan Singh, Kamal Nath made several important suggestions at the Ayog meeting.

While speaking at the NITI Ayog meeting Kamal Nath stressed on the urgent need for agriculture market reforms so that farmers get handsome prices for their produce. Nath called for structural reforms by all states and for suitably amending the Agriculture Prodcue Marketing Committee Act and Essential Commodities Act 1955.

Nath also drew attention towards e-National Agriculture Market scheme saying that e-payment system is yet to be developed due to which states are facing problem and grievance redressal mechanism needs to be put in place.

Nath said quality of a produce should be treated uniformly by all mandis and said APMC Act needs to be modified so that states have farmer centric system in place.

Describing conservation of rainwater harvesting imperative for sustainable development the chief minister said the demand of water for human and industrial consumption will rise in proportion to increase in population. Watershed development activities need to be strengthened in every state to replenish the groundwater resources.

Giving the example of Madhya Pradesh Nath informed that river flow restoration project is under implementation to increase the catchment areas of 40 rivers in water starved districts of the state. In view of the late arrival of monsoon, suitable varieties of seeds are being made available to farmers with the help of agriculture universities. On the other hand district disaster management plans have been updated in view of possible flood situation he said.

On security issues and those concerning left-wing extremism infected regions, Nath said special intelligence branches involving locals should be set up. Information sharing between affected states and confidence building measures involving the local committees must be carried out in active collaboration with the Centre.(IPA Service)